The Dior collection for Spring on the Paris runways was staggeringly gorgeous!! Does this mean women are finally going to start wearing incredibly beautiful dresses again??? If so, can anyone lend me a few hundreds of thousands of dollars??? Like, now?? (In this case, the word "lend" would have heavy overtones of "not ever needing to be paid back"...)

But check this out....

Don't laugh, I just might get that Dior dress... "Why?" you may ask. Or even: "How come?" Well, consider this. I actually got a taker on that "Now Accepting Offers" post (see 2 posts below). Can you fucking believe that, gang??? Someone who burns to assist is willing to assist me, for free!!! And I'm going to take him up on it!! (This will be after the snow clears b/c he's coming all the way from Hawaii -- don't want to put his whole system into shock, do we???) (Yes, this is someone I know -- a dear colleague for many years. I hope this pans out b/c I cannot wait to see him. He's a publisher, editor, writer, cat lover, nature lover, and he speaks French!)

And check THIS out...

Unbeknownst to moi, an older cousin of mine used to be an editor at one of the large publishing houses many years ago. I had asked her to read the Valentino manuscript, just to give me feedback on the sex scenes, to make sure that they weren't too graphic or offensive, etc., to a general reading audience. And guess what??? (See post below re: Maxwell Perkins), she started editing it for me. And in 3 days, she had the entire 550 page manuscript edited from beginning to end. I was flabbergasted and so incredibly thrilled. Jesus. By yesterday morning, the entire manuscript was professionally edited. Now all I need to do is turn it in!!

I'll give you an idea of how great it is to have an outside editor. She was editing pages I had already edited and she was catching all kinds of little things that my weary little brain/eyes had missed. Plus, she caught things that were just plain wrong, that I didn't even know were mistakes. (Luckily, she speaks fluent French & Italian (!!) and there is a lot of French and a little Italian in the novel and there were a number of mistakes in the spellings of that stuff.)

So, really, how cool is this Universe, gang??? Ask and it is given!

I'll let you know when the Dior dress arrives! (And I'm also thinking "Cartier Engagement Ring" -- I'm going to toss that out into the Universe, as well. However, you in no way need to actually become engaged to me; the ring itself will be sufficient. Although I would really like to be present when you buy me the ring, and I would prefer it be at the Cartier shop in Paris. I will be there in October (not necessarily at Cartier's, unless you specifically ask me to be there), so this gives you 9 months to save up your pennies, or Euros, or whatever it is you save...)

Okay, gang!! Gotta get crackin' around here! There's a little weight I want to lose in anticipation of my new dress...